Desperate
by bionic4ever
Summary: A rogue sonar signal, designed to sabotage bionic circuitry, may be driving both Jaime and Steve crazy, before it kills them.
1. Chapter 1

**Desperate**

(dedicated to my friends from funtrivia - welcome to fanfic!)

Chapter One

Rudy Wells frowned with deep concern, exchanging worried glances with Oscar before turning back to his patient. "When did this start, Steve?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Steve said, as he tried unsuccessfully to quell the trembling in his limbs. "Feels like my brain is doing cartwheels. Lemme think...I got back from China a week ago, and I stopped in Ojai to see Jim and Helen - and Jaime. I was fine then. Came back to DC and almost immediately got this pounding headache. It's lasted four or five days now. Makes me feel...foggy. Thought maybe it was the flu, but now I've got this real angry, paranoid feeling and I just can't shake it. Jaime called yesterday, and when I told her about it, she made me promise I'd see you. Maybe we're making a big deal out of nothing..."

"No, you were right to be concerned," Rudy told him, "and I'm glad you came in."

"It's gotten a lot worse this morning," Steve added. "To tell ya the truth, I'm really fightin' the urge to put my fist through the wall right now."

"Well, we appreciate that you're fighting it, Pal," Oscar said, a little nervously. "Rudy, what might cause this?"

"Drugs, maybe, or poison. We'll test for those first. Possibly some sort of virus or chemical in the air around DC. I'll have Lynda call the Center for Disease Control and find out if there are others with the same symptoms." Rudy gave Steve what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "We'll figure it out."

------

Steve was sedated and admitted to the hospital. The next morning, after multiple tests and phone calls, Rudy had an answer. Oscar, looking mighty grim for 8:00am, met him in Steve's room.

"We're looking at sabotage, pure and simple," Rudy said without preamble. "I've found irregularities in some of Steve's circuitry, parts that interact with biological neurotransmitters in the brain, controlling emotions, reason, behavior and pain. The source is auditory in nature, at a frequency I've been unable to isolate, but -

"In English, Rudy?" Oscar requested.

"Somewhere in DC, someone is broadcasting a signal designed to affect bionic systems and cause insanity - and death. Steve can't hear the signal, but his circuits are still responding. It's a good thing Jaime's in Ojai; with her bionic hearing, this signal's effects would be devastating."

"She's...not in California," Oscar said slowly.

"Where is she?" Steve asked, instantly roused from his sedative-and-signal-induced fog.

"I don't know. She called my office last night, wanting to know if you'd seen Rudy yet, and what had happened." Oscar hung his head, his worry lines deepening. "When I told her you were in the hospital, she said she'd be flying out here right away. Her plane landed two hours ago, but she was nowhere to be found - not at the airport, my office...or here."

Rudy couldn't hide his alarm. "If Jaime is anywhere in the vicinity, she's in serious trouble. Take Steve's symptoms and multiply by about fifty. That might come close."

"Meaning she's completely out of her head," Steve said softly.

"Most likely, yes," Rudy confirmed. "Any number of things may be happening to her, but we know for certain that she's in severe, excruciating pain. Steve, you're having trouble focusing, thinking straight. Jaime may be so confused that she doesn't even know who or where she is. She may be experiencing overwhelming rage or panic, or both."

Steve was already halfway out of bed. "I've gotta find her!" he said urgently, pulling on his street clothes as he headed for the door.

"Steve, you're not entirely well yourself," Rudy cautioned. "I'm sure Oscar has teams to handle this."

"Maybe, but I've known Jaime since she was five years old. I know how she thinks, and I can find her faster. Besides, if she is confused, she's more likely to trust me than a team of strangers."

Rudy and Oscar knew it was useless to argue with Steve when Jaime's well-being was at stake. He was outfitted with a wire to enable Rudy and Oscar to hear him and whatever was going on around him. He also wore one of Rudy's latest inventions: a wireless earpiece, not much bigger than a hearing aid, that allowed Oscar and Rudy to communicate with him as well. Steve grew increasingly more anxious as Rudy attached the wire. Whether it was due to the rogue signal or because Jaime was in danger, he didn't know, but an Army tank couldn't have stopped him as he ran out the door.

There were plenty of people already searching the hospital grounds (and the building itself), so Steve headed for his house, making his way on foot to avoid fighting the DC traffic.

As soon as he'd turned the corner and was heading up his driveway, he knew he was on the right track. His front door was lying in splinters on the lawn. He was relieved and worried at the same time. Jaime had enough resources left to make it at least this far, but the signal had obviously taken a drastic toll. Jaime had her own key for that door. What was happening in her head that she chose this drastic means of entry instead? Was she possibly still in the house? His heart in his throat, Steve stepped cautiously through the doorway.

------


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Jaime? It's me, Sweetheart..." Steve quietly called out to her as he moved down the hallway. His own mind swirled with confusion, and he hoped he wasn't missing things that he'd normally notice. The phone in the kitchen had been ripped from its cord and thrown at the wall with enough force to create the hole in which it now rested. Who had Jaime been trying to call?

He headed toward the bedroom, hoping she might've decided to lie down, and Steve suddenly remembered the wire and the two people on the other end who were nervously waiting for an update. "Oscar? You there?" he queried, feeling like he was talking to himself.

"Go ahead, Steve."

_Good job Rudy - clear as a bell_, Steve thought. "I'm at my house. Jaime was definitely here, but I think she's already gone, and - **_oh, God, no_**!" Steve looked at the bedroom floor, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.

"Steve? Did you find Jaime? What is it, Pal?"

Steve was too stunned and too alarmed to answer. He sank heavily onto the bed and stared at the metal lock box that sat in the middle of the floor, ripped open and empty. When he finally found his voice, the words seemed impossible, even as he spoke them.

"Oscar? _Jaime has my gun_."

------

Steve re-joined Rudy and Oscar at Rudy's office in the OSI building, for a brief re-grouping and planning session.

"Jaime hates guns," Steve said quietly.

"She does know how to use one, from her OSI training," Oscar added.

"Jaime is so anti-violence that I'm afraid she might turn any panic or rage inward, rather than lash out at others," Rudy added.

"And...hurt herself," Steve said in horror.

"It's impossible to predict exactly how she's reacting, or what she might be experiencing," Rudy explained, "but from what you saw back at your house, Steve, it's obvious the effect has been drastic. And if she's got a gun..."

All three men fell silent as they pictured multiple scenarios, each more violent and less acceptable than the one before. Finally, Oscar spread a map of the DC area across Rudy's desk. "We can probably rule out the airport," he theorized. "She's most likely to be somewhere between this building, the hospital and Steve's house."

"**_If_** she still knows why she came here in the first place, or even who she is," Rudy pointed out.

Steve frowned. "She was able to find my house."

"I'm only guessing," Rudy said, "but she may have felt drawn there without knowing why."

"But...she found my gun."

"Could she have been looking in your closet for some way to change her appearance?" Oscar asked. "Was anything else missing?"

"I...don't know. Dammit - I didn't even look! Why - how could I not -"

Rudy put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You're being affected more than you realize. I'd really feel better if -"

Steve was already on his feet, fierce determination outweighing any pain and unsteadiness. "I've gotta get back out there."

Rudy and Oscar knew they couldn't stop him, and they both walked with him up the stairs to the main lobby. They were nearly trampled by a stampede of Secret Service agents, guns drawn, racing toward the elevators.

"Get back in your office and lock the door," one of them ordered as he ran. "We've got a shooter on the roof!"

"Jaime!" Steve exclaimed as he forced his way onto the first elevator.

Oscar pulled out his Datacom and tuned into the private Secret Service frequency to impart an urgent message. "This is Oscar Goldman. All agents, **_hold your fire_**!"

Three separate elevators unloaded swarms of black suits and weapons into the hallway of the top floor. There was, however, only one service elevator to the roof, and Steve reached it first. When he stepped outside, he pulled the 'Emergency Stop' on the elevator and jammed the stairway door shut. When he looked around, there was no one else up there. Where was Jaime?

A gunshot from the roof of the directly adjacent NSB building guided Steve as surely as a beacon. His eye focused on a lone figure, dressed in fatigues and a knit cap, sitting cross-legged on the very edge of the far rear corner of the roof. Her back was to him and she'd tucked her hair into the cap, but Steve had no doubt it was Jaime. Remembering his wire, he spoke very softly before making a move.

"She's on the NSB roof. I'm going over. Keep the suits away."

Rudy responded, instead of Oscar. "Steve, be very careful. Her bionics may be disabled, or adrenaline may be making her a whole lot stronger."

Steve moved quickly but very quietly, jumping to the other building and then inching toward her, scarcely daring to breathe. He was about twenty feet away when she spun around with the gun leveled directly at him. Jaime's body was trembling with uncontrollable sobs and intense fear. Her eyes, red and swollen, held no recognition.

"Stay away!"

Steve spoke very calmly, trying to soothe her. "Jaime..." He kept his hands open and visible so she could see he wasn't armed, and took one more slow, cautious step in her direction.

"I mean it," she cried. "Get away, or I'm gonna shoot you!"

------


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Steve focused warily on Jaime's hold on the gun. The hand that gripped it, the hand that steadied it and - most alarmingly - her finger on the trigger, were all shaking violently. He could be shot unintentionally as easily as he could be on purpose. Steve knew the danger he faced was serious, imminent and real.

His gaze drifted upward, and he caught a glimpse of Jaime's eyes as they darted frantically back and forth. The depth of the pain and terror that he saw there tore at Steve's heart, and any concern he'd had for his own safety evaporated, replaced by firm determination to ease her suffering any way he could.

"Jaime, you know me. You know that I'd never - ever - hurt you."

"I don't know you! You're trying to trick me!"

"No, I'm trying to _help_ you. _I love you, Jaime_," Steve said in a soft, kind voice as he took another step closer. He thought about simply diving toward her and grabbing the weapon, but she was so close to the edge that the momentum would send them both tumbling down eight stories to the ground.

"Go away," she insisted, her grip on the gun (and on reality) growing even more tenuous.

"Please, let me help you," Steve said gently, his eyes never leaving her face as he took one more step forward.

"_Leave me alone_!"

"No. I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna do that." Another step, slow and steady, and Steve was less than fifteen feet away.

**_CR-RA-ACK_**! The gunshot startled Rudy and Oscar (on the other end of the wire) and made Jaime flinch, but Steve stood his ground, solid and unmoving. The shot was wild, the bullet sailing past his shoulder to break a window in the OSI building next door.

"Get back!" Jaime ordered. "I mean it - I...I'll kill you!"

"If I step back, will you talk to me?"

"Yes. No! Stop trying to trick me!" Jaime's eyes, wide and tear-filled, were finally looking straight at Steve. He did _not_ step back.

"I love you, Jaime," he repeated. There seemed to be no response to her name, no matter how many times he used it.

"Who...are...you?" she whispered, her face softening even though she continued to threaten him with his own weapon.

_Finally - contact_! Steve thought with relief. "Sweetheart, we've known each other since we were little, little kids," he told her quietly. "We grew up together. We climbed trees, built a tree house, went ice skating and swam in the lake by your parents' summer cottage." Jaime's eyes still stared into his, so Steve kept talking. "I gave you your first kiss and took you on your first real date. I know you don't remember any of that right now; maybe you don't even believe me. That's ok. I also know that you're not feeling well and you're in a lot of pain. The one thing you do need to believe right now is that _I can help you_. I love you, Jaime. Will you let me help you?"

Very slowly, Jaime lowered the gun to her lap and nodded. Steve extended his hand and moved closer, but before he could help her get up, a chorus of voices began shouting from the OSI's roof.

"Freeze!" "Hands in the air!" "Don't move!" Two dozen black-suited 'penguins', having finally broken through Steve's barricade, flooded the roof of the building next door.

"You tricked me!" Jaime sobbed through fresh tears.

Steve was livid - and scared. They'd obviously heard gunfire and knew Jaime had a weapon. Any one of them could decide to be a 'hero' and shoot her. "Dammit, Oscar - get them the hell outta here!" he demanded. One by one, the penguins turned and headed back into the building. Satisfied, Steve turned his full attention back to Jaime.

"Sweetheart, I am so sorry."

"You...you...lied...to me." The little bit of composure she'd gained was gone.

"No, I didn't. I blocked that door, but they broke it down."

"I don't believe you." Jaime raised the gun again, this time aiming it at Steve's head.

Steve ignored the weapon, concerned only with the distraught woman behind it. He tried to sound as casual as possible. "So...why are you on top of a building with a loaded gun, anyway?"

"Gonna jump..."

------


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Hafta make it stop." Jaime sniffled, still crying, but more quietly now. Steve could see she was beyond exhausted. "It's too loud."

"What is?" he asked, trying to hold her attention.

Rudy spoke urgently into the wire. "Steve, I think she's hearing the signal. Ask her if she knows where it's coming from."

"It hurts," Jaime whimpered.

"Sweetheart, that noise - the one that's hurting you - can you tell me where it is?"

"Over there," she said weakly, glancing at the building across the street. "Up high."

"The FBI building," Steve said, for Oscar and Rudy's benefit, "on one of the top floors, or maybe the roof."

"I wanted - I tried - to shoot it," Jaime sobbed quietly, "but it's still there. Owww!" She cringed and winced in pain. Steve's head shifted from dull throbbing to sharp pounding.

"Hurry," he told Oscar, "it's getting stronger."

"Too much..." Jaime whispered. "Can't take it." She swivelled around, throwing her legs over the edge of the roof. As Steve watched in horror, she raised the gun once more, pointing it at her own head. Steve grabbed her arm and forced it straight. At nearly the same instant, she pulled the trigger, missing her target by less than an angle of less than an inch. Not willing to give her another chance to hurt herself, Steve pulled hard on her gun-arm then pinned Jaime flat against the roof. Knowing he couldn't hurt her right arm, he gripped her wrist with all of the strength left in his own right hand, while holding her down with his left.

"Drop the gun, Jaime," he insisted, the softness of his voice a strange contrast to the violence of the last few minutes. Steve's head hurt like it had its own inner jackhammer; he couldn't begin to imagine the pain Jaime was in. He felt crushing guilt at treating her so roughly, but the alternative - her intent to harm herself - was unthinkable. Jaime continued to fight with her remaining strength, struggling to free herself or to raise the gun.

In the next instant, the barrel pointed directly at Steve but, for whatever reason, she hesitated. "Let go of me," she said, weak but determined. "I'll shoot you. I will."

"Ya know, Sweetheart, I don't think you will. But I am **not** gonna let you hurt yourself; if that's what you need to do, then I guess you'll have to shoot me, first. Jaime, I didn't tell my parents - or yours - that your dare got me so sick the day we met. I took the blame, and the spanking, when you threw a baseball through my parents' car window. I covered for you, and got in trouble for it, when you skipped school for a week, your Freshman year. You don't see it right now, but I would give my life to protect you, so you will not be jumping _or_ shooting yourself, as long as I'm alive to prevent it. Understand?"

"Let me go!" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"I want to, Sweetheart," Steve told her, still gripping her right wrist but lifting his left hand from her shoulder to tenderly brush the tears from her face.

The gentle, loving gesture startled Jaime, and as she looked questioningly into Steve's eyes, she finally loosened her grip on the weapon. Steve seized it instantly and he released her arm as his right hand rendered the gun into a useless lump of metal.

"Thank you," he said softly, sitting back on his heels to allow her to get up. Jaime remained prone on the asphalt roof, too stunned and frightened to move.

"Who..._are_...you?" she asked.

Steve reached out and scooped her into his arms, helping her to sit up. "Someone who'll do anything to keep you safe," he replied.

Jaime was still confused, terrified and overwhelmed by pain, but his arms felt warm and safe, and there was so much love in his eyes and his voice. She decided to trust him, sinking gratefully into his embrace. Steve held her close to his chest, his right arm completely encircling her body so he could cover her right ear with his hand. His left hand rubbed her back, smoothed her hair and comforted her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Steve heard Rudy's voice on the wire. "Steve? We got it," the doctor told him, just as Jaime stiffened and went limp in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"How soon will she wake up, Rudy?" Steve asked, standing in the hall outside of Jaime's hospital room.

"At least five or six hours, and probably not until morning. She's not sedated, but after all she's been through, her body needs time to sleep it off. After that, she'll be fine." Rudy smiled at Steve. "It would've been a lot worse if you hadn't been the one to find her. We heard all of it over the wire - incredible work."

"Thanks, Rudy, but it wasn't work; just instinct, and love."

"How's _your_ head? Any pain?"

"Nah - I'll be fine."

"In other words," Rudy surmised, "you could use an aspirin."

"How 'bout two?"

"I'll get 'em for you."

The doctor returned minutes later, handed Steve the pills and a cup of water and then motioned him to a chair. "Let's have a look."

"I'm fine."

"You got your degree - where, Doctor Austin?"

"Ok, alright, I'm sitting."

Rudy gave him a quick but thorough once-over. "You're fine," he confirmed.

"Rudy, will Jaime remember...what happened today?"

"Not if she's lucky. It's impossible to say, though; she definitely could."

"You know," Steve reflected, "when she looked up at me and said _who are you_..."

"Brought back some pretty bad memories for you, I'll bet."

"Yeah," Steve answered, frowning. "And so did finding out Fortress was behind this."

"It all went down about as well as it possibly could for us, though," Rudy said. "You found Jaime in time to save her, and she was still able to point out the source of the signal, and -"

"And those two cretins were actually up there, still cranking on their little sonar system, wondering why Jaime and I didn't die."

"Yep."

"Rudy, why _didn't_ we die? They'd obviously tapped into the right frequency, somehow."

"I don't know for sure. Jaime had a really close call; probably would've lost her in a matter of a few more minutes. But the signal Fortress was sending was so strong...you both should've been dead. They'd have gotten their revenge for the loss of Lyle Stenning and made a fortune on the black market to boot. So I guess the only answer I have isn't very scientific or medical."

"What is it?" Steve asked, already able to guess.

"You and Jaime have an incredible bond; don't have to tell you that, I suppose."

"I've always thought we were like one soul in two bodies," Steve agreed.

Rudy nodded. "I believe it was that bond that kept you alive. You stayed on your feet and strong because you needed to help Jaime."

"But she didn't even know who she was, so how -?"

"Her subconscious, somewhere deep inside of her, still knew, still kept that connection. In a strictly meta-physical, non-scientific sense, that bond that you share - the strength of your love - kept her going as well."

Steve smiled warmly at the thought. "Is it ok if I sit with her?"

"Of course."

Oscar, who had quietly been standing behind Rudy for most of the conversation, smiled, too, at seeing Steve and Jaime together. "Was that your official diagnosis, Doctor Wells?"

"Absolutely. But if you quote me to the AMA, I'll deny every word."

"They do look 'right' together," Oscar noted.

"Yep." Rudy grinned. "Is that _your _official word, Mister Goldman?"

"Sure is, but not for the reports."

------

"Thanks again for letting me stay with you," Jaime said as she happily danced up the sidewalk. "Feels so good to be out of the hospital."

"Thanks definitely aren't necessary; I love having you here," Steve told her.

"Oh - you got a new front door! Looks nice, but what was wrong with the other one?"

"It was looking kinda scruffy."

"Why do I think you're not telling me something?"

Instead of answering, Steve pulled Jaime into his arms, easing her close to him.

"Austin, if you think you can get me to shut up just by kissing me...you are absolutely right."

And so he did.

END


End file.
